PROJECT SUMMARY The FDA Vet-LRN program and the North Carolina State University (NCSU) College of Veterinary Medicine share an important overarching mission to promote animal and human health and well-being. As part of our mission, the NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine houses the Veterinary Health Complex (VHC), a state-of-the-art referral veterinary medical center. The NCSU VHC has existing laboratory facilities that provide primary diagnostic support services for the nearly 22,000 patients seen by the VHC each year. These laboratories, Clinical Pathology, Clinical Microbiology, Histopathology, and Necropsy Services, have been coordinated and accepted to participate in the Vet-LRN program as a Tier 1 laboratory. As such, the NCSU VHC laboratories can serve as a resource for surveillance and emergency outbreak veterinary diagnostic analysis of pathological, microbiological, or chemical agents as directed by the Vet-LRN program office and in coordination with NCSU program management. Our facilities, resources, and personnel expertise will be useful in the event of a large-scale food/drug emergency. By participating in the program we are contributing to the NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine mission, as well as the mission of the Vet-LRN program to provide scientific information, build laboratory capacity, and train scientists. Our aim is to establish a cooperative agreement with the FDA's Vet-LRN program so that we can ensure our laboratories have the infrastructure and capacity to best respond to any Vet-LRN program request. In addition, a cooperative agreement will allow our laboratories to plan and participate in laboratory training exercises, such as proficiency testing, to ensure appropriate methods and quality control management techniques are used in the case of an event. The NCSU VHC laboratories are committed to and will be actively engaged in the need of the Vet-LRN program.